Ex-BJP leader missing as BSP demands his arrest over Mayawati remark

Thousands of Bahujan Samaj Party workers thronged Lucknow’s streets on Thursday, shouting slogans and demanding the arrest of an expelled senior BJP leader who called BSP chief and four-time chief minister Mayawati a “prostitute”.

Thousands of Bahujan Samaj Party workers thronged Lucknow’s streets on Thursday, shouting slogans and demanding the arrest of an expelled senior BJP leader who called BSP chief and four-time chief minister Mayawati a “prostitute”.

Angry protesters – mostly Dalits –burnt effigies of former BJP state vice-president Daya Shanker Singh, who made the objectionable remarks.

As calls for his arrest mounted, police raided Singh’s house in Qaiserbagh but couldn’t find him with sources saying he had gone to Balia in eastern Uttar Pradesh.

Senior BSP leader Naseemuddin Siddiqui – who was leading the protests -- said the demonstrations would continue until Singh was arrested.